Nancy Reagan

1921 – 2016

Nancy Davis Reagan was the First Lady of the United States from 1981 to 1989 as the wife of President Ronald Reagan, and the public face of the "Just Say No" anti-drug campaign that helped justify the punitive expansion of the War on Drugs and the mass-incarceration policies of the era. After leaving the White House she acknowledged that she had retained an astrologer, Joan Quigley, to advise on scheduling for major presidential events, including arms-control summits and the aftermath of the 1981 assassination attempt. In 1985, when her longtime Hollywood friend Rock Hudson sought help accessing experimental AIDS treatment at a French military hospital, the Reagan White House—at her direction—declined to intervene, a refusal that came to symbolize the administration's coldness toward an epidemic that was killing tens of thousands of gay Americans.

Last checked: May 10, 2026, 1:06 PM